ATMIA, the international ATM industry association, made up of more than 2,600 companies and institutions worldwide, has awarded "la Caixa" its 2012 prize for the best ATM services from a European bank.
At the awards ceremony held in London, ATMIA praised the "many years" that "la Caixa" has invested in "reinventing the ATM experience", and its determination "not to accept limitations, to hear and understand customer requirements and to create excellent solutions to respond to these".
"la Caixa" made a presentation to ATMIA members of plans to roll-out its contactless ATM system, the world's first to operate with contactless-ready cards and devices. According to experts, contactless operations are approximately 30% faster than conventional transactions and make terminals more accessible to the disabled, as users do not have to insert a card to work the machine.
"la Caixa", the Cards & Payments magazine 2012 Trailblazer Award winner
Meanwhile, the European edition of Cards & Payments magazine, one of the most internationally read publications specialising in payment methods, has awarded "la Caixa" its 2012 Trailblazer Award, which recognise the year's best innovation in the European banking sector, for the bank's contactless ATM initiative.
These two innovation awards follow other international prizes won by "la Caixa" over the last year for its advances in the field of multi-service ATMs. These include the world's Most Innovative Bank award from the Global Banking Innovation Awards, a prize that 200 banks in 40 countries aspired to win.
"la Caixa", the leading multi-service ATM network
"la Caixa" currently operates 548 contactless ATMs in the region of Barcelona and the Balearic Islands, the first regions to benefit from the roll-out of this new technology.
More than 340,000 contactless transactions have been recorded at ATMs in 2012 so far, close to 200,000 of which were cash withdrawals.
The "la Caixa" multi-service ATM network is at present the most extensive in the Spanish banking system and the second largest in Europe, with more than 7.900 ATMs.
